War of the Crimson Eagle
Cause : During the founding of Alexandria and the province of Astaria, the Astari still had the issue of the native barbarian tribes whom occupied their new homeland. In order to properly establish their foothold on their developing nation, the Astari sought to rout out the natives. As a result, a long campaign was started, so that the numerous houses could properly lay claim to their new legacy. In this article, each and every battle will be explained, mostly pertaining to those of the Aurelian. The War of the Crimson Eagle : In this war, the groundwork of every legion belonging to the House of Aurelius was laid out. The first to be raised was Legio I Legionis Praetoria, or informally referred to as Praetoria or the Praetorian Guard. This legion remained within Alexandria, in order to protect the first city raised by the Astari, in case of failure in the war--they could always regroup in Alexandria. In this war, many lives were lost, and much blood was spilt in the name of conquest. The Battle for Solamina 1 A.F, Tacita 15 :: While the Legionis Praetoria was mainly used to guard Alexandria, Tacitus Aurelius only had this legion to spare in the early stages of the war. As the Astari were at war with the Graecian League, the current landowners of what is now Praevalita, Tacitus had no choice but to send his guard to handle the threat in Solamina, intending to claim the city for his own. This would be the first move in the war, what Tacitus would believe to be a forceful and dominating power play for the Astari--and for the House of Aurelius. Due to the success of this battle, Tacitus Aurelius secured himself a promotion to Military Tribune, increasing his gravitas with the senatorum. Battle Formations : Deploying one thousand, five-hundred and thirty legionaries against five-hundred and forty Graecians, Tacitus believed this battle to be easy--though he would not grow cocky, as he wanted this first conflict to strike fear into the hearts of all Graecians, to instill despair and fright when the enemy would see the Aurelian banner upon the horizon. : Noting that in their current position of not having the entire province under their control, Tacitus and the First Legion would find themselves in a position of attrition--and laying wait and besieging the settlement would be more costly than it was worth. Instead, he stormed the walls, intending to take the city as intact as he could. : At the time of this battle, Tacitus had risen four units of Hastati, four Rorarii, two Velites, and four Leves. He would move in from the south, with the Rorarii to the front in a phalanx formation, the Hastati behind them, followed by the Leves and the Velites would remain on the east and west wings. Tacitus and his horsemen rode behind the formation, ready to relay commands to the Centurions associated with each unit when needed. The Battle for Solamina : The Graecians would march out into the plains before Solamina in an attempt to thwart the Aurelian advance, but were taken aback by the sheer numbers that Tacitus had brought. Thundering war horns trumpeted from the First Legion, resounding off of the hills surrounding them. Tacitus could smell it in the air--the victory was his already, he felt it. : The Graecians did not move during the Aurelian advance, merely waiting for the legionaries to come within projectile range. Regardless of the bait, Tacitus knew there was no way he could coax them from moving to him, as he was the one attacking, so he marched his men forward. Keeping formation, the Aurelian army trodded on, growing ever-closer to the meagre Graecian militia. : Tacitus ordered his men to halt five hundred metres out of the enemy projectile range, waiting to see if the Graecians would be foolish enough to charge. However, Tacitus would smirk as, even though their enemy was so close, they still would not budge. With a wave of his hand, the Legatus ordered his army to double-time, their destination and new formation would be just before the Graecian assembly. This, too, was his way of goading the enemy to walk into his formation, which he believed would also fail. As he drew closer, he had gotten a closer look at the enemy: two units of Levy Slingers, one unit of Graecian Spearmen, one cavalry unit, and two units of what must have been comprised of citizens whom took up arms to fend off the invaders. The legate chuckled to himself, playing with the mental image of farmers gathering their pitchforks and rushing off to combat their impending doom. : Almost at the designated area, Tacitus commanded his Velites to spread out and draw inwards upon the formation, creating a semi-circle formation, nearly. He also gave word for the Leves to spread out, so they could cover a more wide area, and moved the Rorarii twenty paces before the Hastati. What the spearmen couldn't kill, the Hastati would rush in to reinforce any leaks in the formation. The phalanx was a solid formation, and formed closely as they were, it was as if the enemy was encountering a wall of spears--exactly what the legate intended. : As expected, the Graecian leves opened fire upon the advancing legionaries, but the damage was minimal at best. The formation continued forward, undaunted by the constant hail of rocks and pebbles. However, the Graecians did something Tacitus was not prepared for--the heavy spear infantry advanced upon the half-assembled front line, forcing the legate to order his men to rush to finish the formation, lest his battle plan fail. Luckily, the Graecian assault met the first two phalanxes on the right side of the formation and did not move, leaving the left two phalanxes on the front line to move into position and aid the rightmost two Rorarii. Within moments, the second line was in position twenty paces behind the Rorarii, with the Velite left and right wings in place, and the leves behind the entire formation. Tacitus and his horsemen moved between the leves and hastati, watching the battle unfold before their eyes. : Just as the first and second line were in place, and a hail of javelins rained down upon the Graecian spearmen, the enemy turned their backs to the Astari and retreated, causing them to lose even more men as the Astari leves and velites decimated their numbers. With their spear infantry broken and fleeing the battlefield, the Graecians had no way to advance and keep their composure. They seemed frozen, perhaps in shock or fear, and did not move an inch. Seizing the opportunity, Tacitus ordered his left wing of velites and leves to attack the slingers on the left, and the right wing to attack the right. He would either coax them to advance, retreat, or merely slaughter them like the sheep they were. In either case, they had no infantry, and this put their commander in a tough situation. If he fled, his men would lose morale and run as well--but if he charged, he was putting his life at a great risk. : Still getting no response from the enemy commander at his slaughtering of the leves, the legate waved a hand to the right wing velites to attack the cavalry, finally inciting a response--the commander charged his cavalry toward the velites, and right into Tacitus' trap. : Meanwhile, the legionairies stood their ground, resounding battlecries shaking the very earth beneath them as the leves wavered, unsure of what to do as they watched their comrades fall all around them. However, with the enemy wavering, this was not enough to order his men to charge--he would wait for them to break and flee before he would order a pursuit. : With the enemy commander out in the open, Tacitus commanded his horsemen to ride out to flank the enemy commander, confident that not only the velite assault, but also his tactical strike would bring this battle to a decisive close. This worked flawlessly, as when the command unit was flanked, the horses panicked, causing nearly half of the unit to be cut down effortlessly, resulting in the enemy commander to order a full retreat. Tacitus signaled his Aquilifer to inform the First Legion that they would be pursuing the fleeing militia--and they did so, following them until they had killed every last one of them that he could. Result : The First Legion, led by Legatus Tacitus Aurelius, had successfully won and occupied Solamina, choosing to rest and replenish there--though, even as his forces regrouped, he had his eyes set upon the settlement over the mountains of Sinn'mearneau, Balefora. A week after his conquest, the legate recieved a letter from an Astari runner, proclaiming that he had been granted the title of Military Tribune, a token of thanks from the Oliviae, whom were currently the ruling party of what would soon become Praevalita. : Of the one thousand five-hundred and thirty legate Tacitus deployed, he lost one hundred and thirty seven men, but killed two-hundred and seventy-eight men out of the five hundred and forty men the Graecian League sent to defend Solamina. All others whom ran from the field were either executed on the battlefield, or enslaved. The Battle of the Warsong, 4 A.F, Valeria 2 : Three years after the First Legion took Solamina from the Graecian League, Tacitus saw fit to move his men against Balefora. However, when he had reached the city, he noticed they had grown more prepared for attack than the previous settlement. Deciding to beseige the settlement and await the Graecians to meet him, it was only two weeks into the seige before the Graecians sent out a little over one-thousand five-hundred men to combat the legatus' one-thousand four-hundred and ninety-eight. While it seemed to be an even match, Tacitus knew this battle's odds were not in his favour, and it was finally time to prove his mettle to the Oliviae, and secure himself another promotion after the battle was won, and Balefora fell under Astari control. Battle Formations : Spotting a hilltop which had a nice view of the Agrarian Sea, Tacitus believed that the enemy would come from the south, and intended to set his men up upon the hill--he would wait for them to come to him. However, the enemy seemed to be more resourceful than previously believed, and were nearly upon them as they moved into position. Graecian spearmen approached to cut them off, causing Tacitus to signal his men to set up, with the Rorarii forming hasty phalanxes facing the south-east, Hastati twenty paces behind, and the Velites and Leves upon the left and right wings, respectively. It had worked flawlessly before, perhaps it would work to his advantage again. The Battle of the Warsong : Unfortunately, Tacitus was not able to properly assemble his phalanxes, as another wave of Graecian spearmen charged from over the hill to assault them. The rorarii moved quickly, but were caught up in the conflict, holding the Graecians at bay while the rest of the legion got in formation. Tacitus could hear warhorns in the distance, the echoing across the hills made him worry a little, though he quickly dismissed the notion. : The rorarii in his leftmost two units were cut off by the Graecian assault, but this allowed for the rightmost two to form up and hold the line. Though it seemed out of hand, the legatus had confidence that this would inevitably turn in his favour. : Two more units of spearmen rushed to meet the Astari defense, with levy skirmishers upon the hillside, casting arrows at the defensive legionaries. It was, all in all, a bad situation--but Tacitus played the hand he was dealt nevertheless. Ordering his leves and velites on the left wing to attack the skirmishers, and those on his right wing to assault the spearmen, he found that before long, his rorarii front would not hold out much more. Though the Graecian units were wavering, from over the hill and volley of arrows, two more spear units marched--this time, one was the general himself. The arrival of the enemy general bolstered the Graecian forces, though did not further make a dent in the Astari front line than was already dealt. However, Tacitus saw that he was losing more men than desired, and had to do something about it--and fast. : Ordering his leftmost hastati unit to aid the centre-left front of rorarii, whom were crippled by the Graecian general's advance, he decided to divy up the rest of his hastati in order to decisively encircle and trap the enemy forces. If this worked, he would have a swift victory--though he was not noticing the reinforcing Graecians from the south, whom had rushed from Balefora to aid their general. : Equites galloped over the horizon and charged straight towards the left wing, causing the velites and leves to scatter. Not wanting his fire support to be dispersed, Tacitus brought his horsemen about to heel, and charged for the Graecian medium cavalry. Though, by the time the legatus arrived, the velites and leves had been decimated, and occupying the attention of half of the cavalry was not enough to save them. However, in a matter of minutes, the legatus dispatched each cavalry unit, and returned to the battlefield. : As Tacitus looked back at the front, he saw the line wearing thin--but his men knew what to do, and the centurions in charge of the hastati units brought their respective centuries around the line to encircle the enemy, cutting them off from retreat and bottle-necking them in. It was an excellent pinsir tactic, though it would still prove to be a costly one. : Just as the battle seemed to be turning in Tacitus' favour, however, three more spear units arrived over the hillside, and charged into the Aurelian front, making things for Tacitus all that more difficult. Some men stood their ground, some fled the battlefield, others died at the hands of the barbaric tribes whom they fought. But all men knew that there was no third option to the battle--you live, or you die. : With a deteriorating left wing, the legate charged his horses into the fray, inciting the regrouped velites to charge in with their leader. This inspired his men, and in some cases, offered exhausted men a second wind. : The enemy's left line began to crumble, and so did the right, as more and more forces regrouped and returned from their cowardice. Seemingly revitalised at seeing their legatus fighting so valiantly in the middle of the battle, they must've been eagre to get back to it--and possibly escape the punishment for desertion. : Soon, all that remained of the left wing was the enemy general, the right wing was nearly defeated, and all they had left were two very light missile infantry units, which could not do much against the armoured elves. The battle was won--and with the general and his men slain, the rest of the Graecians could do nothing else but turn and flee themselves... But they more than likely didn't expect the Astari to chase them every step of the way. Result : A pyrrhic victory, if any, where the Legionis Praetoria fought valiantly to the last against the Graecians. Horribly wounded in the fight, Tacitus Aurelius found himself in desparate need of aid from the Third Legion, Legio II Vindicta, which he would later give to his son. Calling the Third Legion from Illiapolis to the south of Alexandria prior to the Battle of the Warsong, he knew that no matter the outcome of the battle, he was ready to take Balefora--or decimate every last Graecian he could before collapsing upon the ground. Of the fourteen-ninety eight men deployed, Tacitus lost nine-hundred and thirty-eight men, but in turn had slain one-thousand sixty-one Graecians. With what left of the Praetorian Guard standing triumphantly outside of the Baleforan gates, and the Baleforan militia in tatters, the governor of the settlement must have been distraught--and rightly so. What Tacitus believed Balefora's leader did not expect was the Third Legion coming from the south, where the First Legion had come around the Sinn'mearneau range from the north, Vindicta would come from the pass, effectively cutting off Balefora from any kind of aid from the rest of Nova Graecia. Ultimately, the Graecians whom fought against the Praetorians retreated--right into the Third's warpath. The Battle of the Strider, 4 A.F, Valeria 5 : With the Baleforan militia on the run from the injured but not defeated First Legion, they were too occupied in their flight to notice that their path was blocked by the Third Legion, who had crossed the Sinn'mearneau Pass to offer backup to the First. Luckily, they were at a strategic position--all according to Tacitus' plan--and when the Graecian army nearly found themselves impaled upon the Vindictan spear, they would turn and flee for Balefora, where they would find no solace--for the Vindicta were not as merciful as the Praetorian Guard, and would not stop to treat their wounds. As the eight rorarii marched for Balefora on a mad hunt for the saboteurs of their patriarch, it was made clear to all within Praevalita, and was spoken about within Astaria for many years after matters had long since settled: Tacitus Aurelius was no man to stand against. Battle Formations : With one-thousand two-hundred and thirty rorarii, the Third Legion stood against a weakened and frightened three-hundred and twenty militiamen. It was to be a slaughter, and the Third Legion would take great pleasure in cleansing the Graecian plague from the land--killing with little discrimination from the weak to the healthy. The way they, and all of the Astari saw it, the Graecians were less than people, nothing more than sentient beasts whom were foolish enough to oppose the mighty Astari occupation. In essence, this war was nothing more than an elabourate invasion of foreign territory, but it was for a greater purpose: bringing about the Golden Age of the Sun Elves. This was when the rest of the world began to see just what lengths the Astari would go to for their own ambition. The Battle of the Strider : Legatus Tipius Agrypos marched his men onto the battlefield, ready to carry out his patriarch's will. Though within the Astari Legions, the two were of the same rank, socially, Tacitus was of a higher prestige than Tipius--and, during the foundation of Praevalita, Tipius had given Tacitus and his line his oath of service, until death. : With his eight rorarii situated in a straight-across phalanx, and his two hastati placed equidistant from each other and the left and right flank of the rorarii front line, placed twenty paces behind--as is custom. The legate's horsemen rode between the hastati and behind the rorarii, and from where Tipius was sitting, he could see the tattered and haggered Graecians and their pitiful formation. They had banded together with one group of leves to the back, three groups of spearmen in front, and the commander's group in centre. Aye, Tipius thought, a strong defensive formation--but when surrounded by spears, their defense will cripple as paper withers under water. : Giving a rousing speech to the men before heeding them to march forward, Tipius remembered the day he had given a blood oath to the great Tacitus himself, and knew that with a man like that at his back, there was no way he could lose. He jeered the men on, feeling the tides of war spurring them to victory. It was a thousand metre march, before Tipius altered the marching formation to his battle formation. : Since the defending force was vastly smaller in size compared to his legion, Tipius held four of his rorarii to centre, and set his east and west two rorarii wings to oblique outward, and slowly close in. The defending force did not move, even with the Astari legionaries mere metres from their faces, shouting their warcries and rattling their spears. The Graecian archers fired volleys down upon the dauntless legion, not seeming to make a dent in their numbers, as the formation inched closer and closer, until they were naught but a hair's breadth away. : This was when Tipius signalled the attack. : Quite literally marching his men into the centre spearmen position, the conflict had begun, without needing to break the phalanx. The small formation of Graecians smacked into the Astari phalanx, just as a child does when the local town's bully grasps him by the hair and slams him into it at his temple. At this point, Tipius knew the fight was over. Though, for good measure, he ordered his hastati to encircle the enemy formation, and position themselves behind the enemy leves, waiting until both had arrived at each of the leves' flanks, and then began their attack. Once the leves were wiped out, he turned the hastati gaze towards the commander. Resuming their phalanx formation, and having the rorarii wings close even further around the Graecians, he had successfully surrounded his enemy, and merely continued to constrict, as a snake does with a rodent. : It was not long before the Graecians fell under the sea of red and gold that was the Third Legion, and it is rumoured that only one man escaped the slaughter that was the Battle of the Strider--one Graecian, whom fled the battlefield when there was still an opening left for escape... Some say that he resides in Stalwarth to the south, with the humans. Some say he died up in Sinn'mearneau, when the D'lanastion legions marched down from their estate to cleanse their new nest. Others say he was not really a Graecian at all, but was really an eidolon of Caesar, the God of the Sun. : In either case, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Aurelian forces, ensuring that Balefora would fall into Astari hands, as was the intent. Result The Battle for Balefora, 4 A.F, Valeria 6 : With Balefora's main armies routed and annihilated, the city itself remained relatively unguarded. Roughly three hundred men stood on the city walls, intending to stop the Astari advance as much as possible. However, with an army nearly five times their size, it was not likely at all that the defense would be successful. Tacitus' men marched to the city to take it, with word from Tipius that they would be supported from the opposing side of the battlefield, effectively having one army attack from the front, and one from the rear. The Primus Pilus of the First Legion, Agape Induron, was quite clear with his men: take this city, and Astaria will be complete--with this foothold in Praevalita, this would be the seed that begins their new age. Battle Formations : Agape moved placed what remained of the Praetorian hastati at the front of the formation, with the rorarii behind them. One velite unit would be placed on either side of the rorarii, with the leves placed behind them. The general's cavalry would sit within the leve formation. Tipius' men were not seen as of yet, but were sure to be marching onto the field within moments. This was Agape's time to shine, and prove himself to Tacitus. The Battle for Balefora : The First Legion stood outside of the north-western edge of Balefora, with the villas just over the hills before them. Agage gave a short and succinct speech about bringing victory to the Astari, before commanding them to march around the villas in a tight formation, setting their destination on the town's square. Upon the distant south-eastern horizon emerged Tipius' Third Legion, whom made their way to the roads leading towards the town's square. The plan was for Agape to take the city, while Tipius supported the capture. Two boats supposedly filled with soldiers sailed off the coast, headed towards the shore closest to the Third, but Agape paid no mind to it--as long as they did not dock and unload men in his way, they were of little consequence. : As the First entered the city, the scouts spotted the defending forces--two groups of leve slingers, and two mobs. Though this already sounded ludicrous for a defensive, the sight was even worse--the numbers were more sparse than they had imagined. Nevertheless, this only meant a quick victory, so Agape spurred his men forward, lining them up along the road in a tight formation, before marching forward. The velites were quickly in range of the slingers, and made quick work of them--it was all too soon before they began to disperse at the sight of the approaching legionaries. Still, once they had assumed formation, Agape moved them forward, so they could take down the Graecian flag and replace it with the Astari aquila. There was not much of a fight, as the enemy had fled--but once more, as they had before, they were running right into the Third's trap. : As the Third advanced towards the road, one of their scouts found two units of leves emerging from the boats and heading to their position. Tipius commanded the rorarii to draw a line between the woodlands and the farmers' huts, while the hastati rushed in to ward off the advancing leves. Even before they had established contact, though, the leves fled, joining the rest of their fleeing troupe. Knowing that a routed enemy could still regroup later, Tipius ordered his cavalry to charge the fleeing Graecians, running nearly all of them down and slaying them where they stood. Once again, however, one man fled the battlefield--but it was not long before he was captured, enslaved, and forced to fight in the Alexandrian Coliseum during the Ludi Aquiliarii, weeks after the battle. : Meanwhile, the First Legion had successfully captured the village, and the Third was busy hunting down the fleeing Graecians. Agape smiled, knowing that when Tacitus recieved word of the victory, his smile would be unparalelled. Finally, the Astaria Province was complete, and this meant Praevalita had successfully set the board for their massive conquest of the surrounding lands. Result : With the Astari armies only losing six men, and the enemy losing over two hundred of their own, the city of Balefora belonged to the First and Third Legions--and, by extension, Tacitus himself. Having garnered such a boon for the people, they would hold games in Alexandria for an entire year--what would be written down as the Year of the Aquila. Ludi Aquiliarii, 4 A.F, Valeria 14 : Following the victory in Balefora, and the construction of a market settlement in order to increase trade and commerce, the senatorum and the triumvirate declared that a day of celebration for the Astari victory which would be called the Ludi Astari. The day began with a procession to the Temple of Caesar, or the Sun God, where they would pray, and then all would be invited to the Coliseum, where animals would be sacrificed to the Sun God. This would be followed by chariot races, which the Astari people quickly grew ravishingly fond of--almost bordering a radical and obsessive passion. : While the Ludi Astari was meant to be held only for one day, the people of Alexandria enjoyed the celebration so much, that they demanded the rest of the year be a celebration to Tacitus and Caesar, so the triumvir regretfully declared that the celebrations would continue into 5 A.F, and it was then that they renamed it the Ludi Aquiliarii. Further Conquest : However, while the celebrations continued, the war was not over--in fact, the only reason there was no further conquest for some time after the war was due to the Legionis Praetoria and the Vindicta needing to rest and replenish their forces, due to the massive assault they led on the Graecian League during 4 A.F. Off the coast, though, there were two islands in which the triumvirate set their eyes on--what would be called the Islet Province and Newsun Isle. The Sanguinian Dynasty laid claim to the Islet Province, while the Aurelian Dynasty demanded they are to be given Newsun Isle, as they and their armies were the ones conquering for the Astari people. The triumvirate agreed upon this, and looked to the Agrarian. They had land--but this was only the beginning. Assassination! 4 A.F, Sanguinia 20 : In anger at Sanguinius for his immediate claim to the Islet Province, Tacitus sent his agent, Publius Varenus, to assassinate the triumvir. However, while Sanguinius was wounded in his escape attempt from the assassin, he was not successfully killed. This caused tensions in the senatorum, and the Aurelian Dynasty was both seen in fear and disgust. Though this was a black mark on Tacitus' reputation, this put more senators on their seats' edges than before, as they'd rather not get on the Aurelius' bad side--they feared to lose their lives. : With only one-hundred and ninety-six men lost, two-hundred and sixty Graecians killed, and fifty-two enslaved, the Third was looking none the worse for wear. Not only this, but this allowed them to stand vigil as the First Legion took Balefora, and completed the Astaria Province. After this battle, Legatus Tacitus Aurelius was sent word of the birth of his third son, Horus Aurelius. Category:Battles